Controller for electric motors.



W. A. PARIS.

CONTROLLER FOR ELECTRIC MOTORS.

` APPLIGATION fumi Mmm, 190e.

910,951 Patented Jan 26, 1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 AfnoRNEY W. A. PARIS.

CONTROLLER PoR BLEDTRIG MOTORS.

APPLXGATIUN FILED MAILS, :l

Patented Jan. 26, 1909.

2 SEEBTSSHBET 2.

WITNESSES:

UNITED STATES PATEN OiiFi Jil.

WILLIAM A. PARIS, OF EDGEWOOD PARK, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIUXOH it.) \\'lih'l'l.\`(jI1OI7Sl ELECTRICV d: MANUFACTURING L'MPANY, A CORPOKTION Ol Pl-INNSYLVANIA.

CONTROLLER FOR ELECTRIC MOTORS.

To all whom it 'may concern:

Patented Jan. 26, 1909.

Serial No. 304.092.

Be it known that I, WiLLIAMA. PARIS, a

citizen of the United States, and a resident of E ewood Park, in the county of Allegheny an State of Pennsylvania, have invented a,

new and useful Improvement in Controllers for Electric Motors, of which the following is a s ecication.

liiy invention relates to controllers for electric motors and has special reference to such controllers, of the rotatable drum type, us nre adapted for use with motors oi." relatively large siml and capacity.V

'1 he object of my invention is to provide a controlling device of the class above specified that shall be sini ile, durable and compact in construction, anc may comprise a Contact carrying drum adapted for operation in one direction only by means of an actuating device that is limited to a predetermined arc'of rotation.

Rotatable, contact-bearing drums or cylinders are used to a considerable extent in connection with stationaryr engaging fingers in controller' structures and when large. electric currents are utilized, the fingers are inode of such width that the total length of the drinn is such as to occupy an excessive amount of sp ace.

In Patent. No. 807,939, granted December 19,1905 to the vestinghouse Electric @c Manufacturing Company, as assignee. of Henry D. James, a controlling device has been shown and described. which is adapted for starting and operating electric motors and which cornprises a rotatable contactcarrying druin the contacts of which are divided into two similar and opposite groups to be. engaged by stationary contact lingers in a well known luanner. An actuating device is also shown which is itsel'lI limited to a predetermined are of rotation but which may canse the contactcarrying drum to rotate. in one direction' only. If the design oitltis general chaructc-.r`is embodied in a controller adapted for use with motors of relatively large current capacity, the stationary contact iingers .which engage the rotatable drum are necessarily made ol considerable width in order to secure sutlicient Contact area to carry the current re4 quired. Since the number of contactngers required is independent of the amount of current utilized, the total length of the contactcarryng drum must- .necessarily be increased out of all proportion to its diameter.

l l l According to my present invention and in order to obtain an adequate area of contact between the lingers and the druni n'ithout any substantial increase in the length oll the lat ter, l divide it into lour similar' segments and provide a plurality of specially construeted stationary contact iingers which muy severally engage similar contact parts on two adjacent drum segments. In this way, the tno spaced portions ol' each contact iinger are in multiple circuit relation und are adequate for the increased current values n ithout requiring' un increase in the length of the drum.

Figure l ol the accompanying drawing is a view, mainly in front elevation, but partially in section, ot' a controller constructed in accordance v. ith my invention. Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic vien' of a control system shon'- ing the control drum of Fig. 1 developed into a single plane, and the circuit. connections theretor.

Referring to Fig. l of the drawings, the controller illustrated therein has a combined supportingr frame and inclosingl casing, coinprising three sections 1, 2 and 2S. Located uiihin the casing arc transformers 4, a contact-carrying drum and an actuating device therefor uhich comprises an operating handle lever o', a gear segment 7, and a gear wheel 8 attached to the drum and adapted to be engaged by the gear segment` 7. The transformers 4 and tu'o groups ot' stationary Contact fingers 9 and 10 are rigidly attached to section 2 ot' the supporting tranne, and the drum 5 is iixed to a shaft 11 which is rotatably mounted in bearing brackets 1*. also supported by section '.2 of the frame. 'l`he actuating gear segment is rotatably mounted upon a shaft 13 parallel to the shal't l 1, and is provided with a panl 14. The gear wheel S has Four relatively suinll and equally spaced blank portions l5, nhich are provided with notches 11i to be engaged hy the paul 1-1 ou the ucar segment 7 4 T 1e controller is'adapted to occupysuccessivrely a plurality of positions (l. b, c and d which are accentuated in the usual manner by a notched cani 17, and a cor'iperating pawl 18 that is fulorunied upon n shaft 19 and is held in engagement nith the periphery of the cam by e s ring 20. The arrangement of contacts on t ie four segments ofthe drum .5 is identical, each one including thc alorc- Said controller positions. 'lhe tno groups of stationary contact members ,9 and are mounted on rods 21 and 22 which are parallel to the shaft 11, in the same horizontal plane and are provided with wrappings of insulating material. Each stationary contact member comprises a body clamped to one of the insulated rods by binding screvt s 23 and a pair of contact lingers 23 hit-h extend in opposite directions tlierefrom and aie adapted to engageI points on the circumference of the drum, vhich are se a rated by an arc of substantially 9J. In this u ay, u hen the controller occupies any one of itsseveral positions, the contact fingers are all in engagement ith corresponding contacts on the several drum segments, the two portions of a single contact member' being in engagement with the contact parts of adjacent drum segments u liich complete suitable circuit connections that are in multiple relation u ith each other.

Some of the notches of the cam 17 may be of such form as to permit of rotation of the drum in Ieither direction and others of such form as to limit its rotation to a single direction so that separate protective means may be employed for the starting and for the running positions of the controller, as set forth in the patent hereinbefore referred to, and also in Patent No, 803,233, granted October 31, 1905 to Vvestinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company, upon an application filed by Henry D. James. t

The handle lever G is provided with a push pin 24 u liich may be pressed inwardly against the action of a spring 25 to disengage a catch 2o troni a stationary dial plate 27 located on case section 2 and provided vtith projections 28 and 29 to limit the motion of the handle and u ith a plurality of notches 30, 31 and 32 to further accentuate the positions a and b, which correspond to the running and ott positions of the cont-roller` The arrangei'nent of parts is such that when the paw] 18 engages one of the notches c in the cam 1T, the drum then being in the oti' position, 4the catch 26 engages thenotch 32 and the pawl 14 engages one of the notches 16 in the gear wheel 8. Alter the drum has been rotated through an angle of substantially 90 from one off position to the next, the o'ear segment 7 becomes disengaged from tie ge r wheel 8 at one of the lank portions 15 an may be returned to its first off position, without actuating the drum, to bring the pawl 14 into engagement with a second notch 16. The operation may then he repeated to move the drum through another 90. Although the diameter of a drum constructed in this manner is relaltively large, the proportions are better than portion ii hich is rigidly tions for, the controller may lie better understood by reference to Fi 2, in which the control drum is develope in a single plane. ln the system here illustrated, the controller is adapted to supply energy from a twophase supply circuit 33`34-35`36 to an lalternating current motor 37.for starting and continuously operating the saine. Assuming thatthe controller occupies its off position d, as shown inthe drawing; if the drum is now moved to occupy osition c, circuits will be established as fol ows: from line conductor 33 through conductor 38 to contact fingers 40 which are joined .by a conductor 41. From these points a multi le circuit is established through corresponding segments 42 and 43 in adjacent drum quadrants, which are identical to each other, as above indicated, to engagement therewith and are joined by a conductor 45. Circuit is continued from this point through a conductor 46 to the motor. The opposite terminal of this phase ot' the motor windin f is connected to the line conductor` 34 through conductors 47, contact fingers 4S, contact members 49 and 50, fingers 51, conductors 52 (which are connected to an intermediate point in a transformer winding 60), a portion of said transformer winding, conductor 53, contact fingers 54,

segments and 56, fingers57 and conductors 58. The other phase of the motor is connected to the line conductors 35 and 36 through the remaining two quadrants of the drum and the transformer winding 61, circuit connections being established in exactly the same way as that already described for one phase of the inotor, since the drum quadrants are identical.

As the controller is moved to position b,

4the circuit connections are adjusted in a well known manner to increase the voltage of the current supplied to the inotor windin When the position c is occu ied, current is supplied from the line condiiictors directly through a plurality of fuses 62 and the control drum to the motor windings without the iiiterposition of the voltage-reducing transformer windings and 61. From position c the drum passes directly into its off position d, having then rotated through an angle of substantially It will be readily understood by skilled in the art that the total current supplied to each phase of the motor windings is equally divided between the contact segments and engaging fingers of adjacent drum quadrants, since they are connected in multiple circuit.

It is conceivable that various modifications niay be effected in the circuit connections without fingers 44 which are in` in controllers of the usual character and the departing from the spirit of current-earrying capacity is materially inj my invention, and 'I desire that on y such creased. t limitations shall be imposed as are indicated Thel operation of, and the circuit connecl in the appended claimen.y

I claim as my invention:

1. In a controller, the combination with a rotatable, contact-carrying member having a plurality of similar groups of eentact se ments, of stationary contact men severallycomprise two electrical! connected ngers so disposed as to engage rotatable member at two points separater l l y an arc of approximately 360 divided by the number ol; said similar groups.

2. In a controller, the combination with a rotatable, contact-bearing drum capable of continuous rotation in only one direction, and operating means therefor, of a plurality of stationary contact members that severally comprise two electritally connected but independently yielding lingers so disposed as to engage said drum at points which are separated by an arc of approximately ninety degrees.

3. In a controller, the combination with a rotatable, contact -bearing drum having a plurality of similar groups of control segments, and operating means therefor, of onehalf as many groups of stationary contact members which severally comprise two electrically connected but independently yielding fingers so 'disposed as to en age said drum at points that are separated y an are of substantially 360 divided by the number of said similar groups.

4. In a controller, the combination with a rotatable Vdrum having four similar groups of contact ring segments equally disposed about the circumference thereof, and operating means therefor, of two groups of stationar contact members which severally engage said drum at four points e ually disposed about the circumference of t e drum.

5. In a controller, the combination with a rotatable drum having four similar groups of contact ring segments equally disposed about the circumference thereof, and operating means therefor, of two roups of stationary contactJ members Whic i severally engage .51ers whic said drum along four lines which are sepa rated by arcs o substantiall 90.

6. In acontroller, the com nation with a rotatable drum having four similar groups of contact segments, therefor comprising a driving gear wheel attached to the drum, a segmental gear wheel which meshes with said driving gear wheel and an operating handle that is attached to said segmental gear wheel, of stationary contact members which severally enga e said contact segments at four points equa y disposed about the circumference of the drum.

7. The combination with a rotatable contact-carrying drum having four similar groups of contact segments, of stationary engaging contact members therefor which comprise two engaging fingers disposed in the same plane perpendicular to the axis of the drum and severally en aging the sur faces thereof at points whic are separated by a material are.

8. In a controller, the combination with a drum or cylinder having a plurality of similar groups of contact segments equally disposed about its circumference, of stationary contact fingers connected in mnltpie circuit and engaging correspondmg segments el adjacent groups.

9. In a controller for electric meters, the combination with a control drum or cylinder having four similar groups of contact seg ments equally disposed a out its circnmferu ence, of two sets of stationary contact members,V comprising a plurality' of two-part contact fingers the parte of which engage corressponding segments of adjacent groups on the drum.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name this 24th day of ltr-,bruary, 1906.

WILLIAM A. PARS. Witnesses:

Ross COPELAND, Binner IIrNns.

and operating means 

